Charlotte Hornets: Defense a major emphasis early in training camp

Now multiple days into training camp, the Charlotte Hornets continue to make defensive improvement a top priority going into the 2019-20 season.

If you’re a fan of the Charlotte Hornets, then you know that one of their biggest weaknesses from the 2018-19 season came from the defensive end of the court. Head Coach James Borrego has put a major emphasis on improving on that end of the floor going into the 2019-20 season.

Sam Perley of Hornets.com gave fans an inside look at Charlotte’s third day of training camp. Borrego once again emphasized how the team hopes to make a jump on the defensive side of the ball during the 2019-20 season.

"Our goal is always to be a top-10 defense. It’ll always be our goal there, but right now, we have to take care and maximize the best defense we can be. Where that puts us this season, I don’t know. I think the best teams in this league are either top 10 offensively or defensively. I think we have a team that can push through the top 10 defensively this season.”"

Becoming a top-10 defensive team isn’t going to be easy, especially for a rebuilding team, but the Hornets do have multiple players that have shown promise on that end of the floor. Miles Bridges and Terry Rozier get after it defensively, with Dwayne Bacon and Devonte’ Graham also improving.

Now, I’m not saying that they will be a top-10 defensive team. In fact, I would say the chances of that happening are extremely low. However, building a defensive mindset and identity early on in this rebuild is going to be very important.

Last season, the Charlotte Hornets had a defensive rating of 112.0, which was good for 23rd in the NBA. It was a struggle overall on that end of the court. Charlotte also gave up 49.0 paint points per game in 2018-19, which ranked 16th in the league.

Over the years, the Hornets have particularly lacked rim protection. Cody Zeller is a good overall defender, but his one weakness has been his inability to protect the rim. Bismack Biyombo can provide help in that area, but he likely won’t play enough to make a huge difference.

I don’t see a major difference maker when it comes to protecting the rim, but the Hornets do have a solid group of guys who can lock up on the perimeter. They are going to rely heavily on those perimeter defenders to cause chaos and get some easy buckets in transition off of steals.

When it comes to improving defensively, a lot of it is simply effort. Hopefully Coach B can implement a style of play that pushes players on that end of the floor. He’s got some personnel, but we must remember that this is a young, inexperienced team. It’s going to take a lot of time and patience.

As we get closer to preseason and then the regular season, many fans will be watching the Charlotte Hornets closely on the defensive end. Being a top-10 defense is going to be extremely difficult, but if they make any kind of improvement from last season, it will be a positive step in the right direction.